Securing land for the school

Status:

Step:

3

The school stands to be in need of its own land to build up classes which can ease the poor conditioned structure that children are learning from at the moment Neighbours can look into this fact and find out possible ways of raising funds to purchase land and build our own school which can later or sooner serve a full primary school.In Kenya a full primary school needs up to eleven rooms.

Hi neighbours,
We at Mathare educational centre are running the school from arental and temperal structure belonging to the government.This means that at the time the government finalises with its plans to develop this land then people occupying this land will be evicted and may have no place to be resettled.This will pose a negative effect on this bussiness we have now with the children.It would be better to start thinking of a way of acquiring land of our own before such case can arise.Again as the population in the city of Nairobi is inreasing at ahigh rate then land and building materials are shooting up in prices within ashort span of time.
We would stand better chances if neighbours start looking into this need to avoid meeting heavy costs at alatter time.This is costly but can turn to be alife long solution to our bussiness.
Thanks alot
Richard.

Till you get funds for buying the land, you could also check with your local municipal or government bodies if they allocate land to educational institutions either as a donation, or at subsidized rates.

Hi Vijai,
Thanks for joinining Mathare village and contributing your good idea about obtaining land.Unfortunately for Nairobi land is a scarce commodity even to the government projects itself.There is no land reserved for NGO's or community based projects.The only remaining alternative is purchasing from the private owners who have failed to raise funds for construction.Although this is quite expensive but it is the only quick way of getting land.I hope this could be the way for our project too.
On the other way, we own asmall piece of plot which we think can still be of help to us but we have no funds to develop it.Can there be any suggestion from you?
Thanks,
Richard.

There can be a few suggestions to develop the land that you own, but these will involve some hard work at your end. I have found that villages on nabuur are more interested in raising funds on nabuur, and they look at nabuur as more of a fund-raising site. Mostly these villages are not not really open to ideas for self-sustenance, or learning how they can manage without donated funds.

Hi Vijai,
I 'm impressed with your concern for Mathare Village.Yes, we own a small piece of land 30 by 50ft only afew kilometres from The village itself.I had said that we need land because this plot is quite small and a bit far.so need for an additional land is there but we can start with the small one we have now even if adonor comes in to subsidice on the one we have
On the other hand building materials in Nairobi are very costly and if we can use the only plot we have, then we have to put up a storey one which could be more costly than buying land itself.I like the issue of being self sufficient but iam unable at the moment and the community in which we are is living in poverty and we can't expect much from it.
Thanks.
Richard.

My reply of yesterday to your post above has disappeared from this thread, and your reply of today is appearing in another thread, where my reply of today is not posting. I have also posted this problem on the nabuur website thread today.

It is necessary to continue with this task on this thread only, and to avoid all the confusion, could you copy your post of today here in this thread, and delete the new thread that you created for this task? This will be necessary for me to continue on this task, since otherwise I lose track of what I had posted earlier, if my posts start disappearing or your replies start appearing on another thread.

Richard, I have copied your post from the other thread here, since my reply is not showing there. My reply is below your copied post here.
Vijai
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Hi Vijai,
Thanks to your quick response to my massage.I am impressed with your concern for M athare Village and
iam finding your ideas very helpful to us.
To star with, the plot we Own stands in a good area where if a school or a hospital can be build, it can be a very good way of generating an income which can go in running the school project in Mathaare village.However I don't have any donor or any partnership with a funding organisation to help in construction.
I have drawn abudget for a two floor building which needs 3 million Kenya shillings which I cannot raise or the community.If this goal can be met then this can be avery good way of making this plot resourceful to help in the running of the Mathare school.How do you find this working?
Regards,

Richard
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Hi Richard,

I can understand the following from your posts so far:

- your existing owned plot of 50ft x 30ft needs 3 million Kenyan Sh for a 2-storey building for a school or hospital

- you want neighbours to help you to acquire a new plot

To be able to operate a school or hospital, you need past experience in these areas. What are your core competencies?

Please post all your replies in this thread only, since I don't think the nabuur team has been able to fix the problem of your post appearing in a new thread where my reply is not showing.

Hi Vijai,
You will bear with me for the confusion made.I am still not well versed in posting massages on the Nabuur site and as we are frequently in discussion with you is when I am getting experience of using this site.I have to do as you are instruction are.Thanks
On the question of what i can manage better on this plot is a school since I'm personally a primary school teacher and have been in this field for ten years yet in the position of a head teacher.I have made remarkable improvements in the schools I have been heading and I 'm sure I can use my potential well in bringing this facility to be resourcefull to the community.We can start with the plot if neighbours can work on astorey building to save the idea of buying land.
Thanks,
Richard.

My role on nabuur does not involve 'instructing' anyone. I have simply 'requested' you to maintain continuity on the same thread so that I, or any neighbour, does not lose track of what was posted earlier, since there could be many posts from several neighbours on this thread as the dialogue progresses. I operate on nabuur only in my capacity as a 'neighbour' and it is entirely up to you to decide how you wish to benefit from the interaction. Though I am still puzzled about where one of my previous posts on this thread has vanished, and have also reported this to the nabuur website team, we will continue with our dialogue on this task on this thread.

From your reply above, the picture now becomes the following:

- you own a 50ft x 30ft plot of land
- you now wish to abandon the idea of buying a new plot of land
- your core competence is teaching (background of teaching for about a decade)

You have earlier mentioned that you would also like to open a hospital. I presume from your reply that you have no prior experience of running a hospital. If this is true, would you still like to pursue the idea of running a hospital?

Apart from teaching, do you also possess the administrative skills required to operate a school? During your teaching experience of a decade, how much of experience would you have on the administrative issues of a school? Do you also have experience in the legal framework in your country related to schools?

Richard, do not get offended with these questions. Your answers will decide how much expenses will be required to operate any business that you wish to start. For example, without prior experience in operating a hospital, you can still operate a hospital (assuming that your government allows you to do this), but for this you will have to hire a competent person which will increase your operating expenses. Since money is in short supply at your end, so we are first starting off with your core competence, so that your expenses in running any business are low.

Very early in this thread, you must understand that I do not provide funds, or involve with fund-raising. In this task my role will be purely to help you to help yourself. I will only try to show you the road to walk on, and you must walk on it by yourself, and on your own. So before we proceed, if you still feel that you have an eye only on the funds, then I shall be happy if you can make this known very early on this thread, so that I need not continue with my discussions, and you might be accessed by other neighbours with their offer of funds.

Did you talk to John from Komarok in between? He actually has built a very basic structure for his school while waiting to earn more funds to build a proper school. I think you could maybe do the same on the land you own already?

Another question, what are you doing at the moment - do you teach already in a school? Sorry, if I missed an earlier discussion on this, but I just wanted to know if you want to start a complete new school or if there are already pupils and a building where you are teaching right now.

Hi Vijai,
Thanks for your detailed explanation of where your operation area on Nabuur lies.I am not getting offended in any way rather I am get more knowledge and experience from you on what i ought to do in my venture as related to Nabuur.
Back to your questions,As said ealier I am basically an experienced teacher having been in the teaching field for a decade.I have mainly worked in the capacity of an administrator and I know much of the framework of teaching and all that the education ministry requires.So I am convinced that I can handle the task of running a school better than a hospital.I have never dealt with hospitals in any manner and I don't know about the legal requirements.
On the other hand I am ready for any kind of assistance offered to me weather material or non material.I will be happy for any idea you can find usefull to me as long as it can make us progress in our endevours.
thanks for now,
Richard

Hi Maria,
Thanks for hearing from you.We have been in the discussion about the small piece of land I own afew kilometres from Mathare village where my current school is. We have been looking into possible ways of how to bring this land into use and make it profitable to help the school that is in need in Mathare. This comes from an idea of establishing an income generating activity and from what I know, Private, well managed and facilited schools established in better areas where people's eanings are good,always do better because parents are ready to pay fees.
At this moment I am managing the school in Mathare and because I have to meet some payments I am also teaching on another school to earn some money which is going in paying for the costs and teacher's salaries on the Mathare school.I also own another facility in the city and it is from this facility that I am generating a small income that is again going into meeting the bills on the Mathare school. I am sacrificing at the expence of denieng my self my conviniences in order to manage this project.
I could have put up a basic structure on the plot I own but according to the area regulations, they don't allow temperal structures because they don't want to turn the area into a slum.This has hampered me from developing this plot.
Thanks
Richard

It's good to see the clarity emerging at your end. Based on your replies so far, the big picture as of now is as under:

- in your owned plot of 50ft x 30ft you wish to operate a school
- you have given up the idea of running a hospital in this plot, or buying a new plot
- your core competence includes - one decade of teaching, and also administrative experience related to a school

We now move to the further questions to assess the viability of your operating a school. Some of these questions are:

- Since the 50ft x 30ft plot is not so large, assuming a building is constructed all over the plot, without any vacant space outside the building within the plot - how many students can this building accommodate, assuming only one floor is constructed, and the classes are held in only one shift? You will have to account for spaces for office, toilets, and other common facilities that are external to the classrooms. To help you with the calculations, let us assume the plot of 50ft x 30ft = 1500sq.ft, and if 30% area is left for common facilities, then area for classrooms is about 1000 sq.ft, assuming each student occupies 3ft x 3ft including common area in the classroom, so about 100 students can be accommodated. This is according to my estimate. What is your estimate for the number of students which can be accommodated in one floor and in one shift in the 50ft x 30ft plot?

- After you have answered the above question, you should then assess the region where your plot is located. Can you enroll the required number of students?

- The next question is - how much can your school earn through these students through fees - amount per student?

The answers to the above basic questions will give you a basic idea about how much you can expect to earn from the school, assuming only one storey is built on 50ft x 30ft, and in one single shift operation.

We will move to the next stage after you have replied to the above. If something is not clear, please do not hesitate to ask me.

It is interesting to read about the good work you are doing in Mathare. My wife and I had the opportunity to visit Mathare in July of 2007 and we saw first hand the problems you and the community are facing. To be operating any school under such difficult conditions is a real credit to your committment. At the time of our visit we were shown a rented building which was being converted to a classroom on the second floor with a small kitchen. Would you please tell me if this building is the same building that you are describing. I have attached a photograph of that building for you to confirm this.